One of the righteous in the past said, "We sought 5 things and found them to be within 5 things:
We sought light in the grave and found it within the night prayer. We sought the ability to answer the questions of Munkar and Nakir (Angels in the grave), and found it within recital of Qur'an. We sought the safe crossing of the Sirat, and found it within charity. We sought salvation from thirst on the Day of Judgement and found it within fasting. We sought blessing in our provision, and found it within praying Fajr."
"The young man thinks he will face poverty & unemployment.
The young woman thinks she will never get married.
The married woman thinks she will not conceive.
The old man thinks he will face illness.
The student thinks he will not pass his exams.
All of these thoughts come to you from Shaytan...
"Satan threatens you with poverty and orders you to immorality, while Allah promises you forgiveness from Him and bounty. And Allah is Ample-giving and All-Knowing." [2: 268]
Trust, and have good thoughts of Allah."
[Translated from an unknown source]
"Sulayman (AS) was rich and grateful, while Ayyub (AS) was afflicted and patient. But to both it was said, "An excellent servant. Indeed, he was oft-returning in repentance."" [Saad: 30 and 44]
- Salman al-'Awdah
It's not about your state of affairs, but it's about your character during that state.
"It's just like gold," the old man said, pointing to the waves as they shimmered from the distance. It made him stretch his hand towards it and take a few steps forwards. "Just like gold," he repeated as he lowered his hand and looked to his grand-daughter. "And that's the problem... Everything in this world shines like gold from afar."
‘Abdullah Ibn ‘Abbas رضي الله عنه was once asked, “Who do you think is better: a man who has few (good) deeds and few sins or a man who has many (good) deeds and many sins?” He replied, “There is nothing like being safe.” ['al-Zuhd', by Ibn al-Mubarak]
Sa’d said: “The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: ‘The call of Dhoo’l-Noon [Yoonus/Jonah], which he recited when he was in the belly of the fish, ‘La ilaaha illa anta subhaanaka innee kuntu min al-zaalimeen. There is no Muslim who recites this in any situation, but Allaah will respond to him.” (Reported by al-Tirmidhi, 3427, and classed as saheeh in Saheeh al-Jaami’, 3383).
The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Shall I not tell you of something which, if some of the misery and distress of this world befalls a man and he recites it, he will be relieved of his stress. It is the du’aa’ of Dhoo’l-Noon: ‘La ilaaha illa anta subhaanaka innee kuntu min al-zaalimeen.’” (Reported by al-Haakim; Saheeh al-Jaami’, 2605).
Reciting Darood Sharief before and after any dua is a powerful means for the acceptence of that dua. It is reported from Allaamah Shaami that Allaama Abu Ishaaq Ash-Shaatibi has mentioned:
Trans: Durood Sharief is definitely accepted by Allah Ta’ala. It is unlikely that Allah, The Most Generous will accept one part of dua and reject the other.
Allaamah Abu Sulaymaan Duraani says that dua wherein Darood Sharief is recited before and after it is unlikely that Allah Ta’ala will accept the first and last part of the dua and reject the middle portion.
My Lord, certainly, I am a weak slave
Who has come before You seeking that which You have to give.
I come before You complaining of the affliction of my sins,
For can one complain of grief to anyone but You?
Gift me with Your Pardon, my Benevolent Master
For my reliance is on none but You.
My Lord, I have drowned in my own sins,
I ask for Your pardon, Most Generous Lord
By the depth of my poverty and my utter need
For You, my Lord, in times of distress.
I ask You by my weakness, inability, and indigence,
I ask You by what Your Books have guaranteed –
I ask you by Your infinite Mercy.
—
(from Imam Ibn Jawzi's Al bahr ad-Damu)
Allahumma inni as'alukal fauza fil qadaai', wa nuzul-ash-shuhadaai', wa aiyshaslua'daa'i, wa murafaqatal-ambiyaai', wannasara alalaadaai', innaka sammaiiud'dua
O Allah! I ask You for success concerning my destiny, and feast with the martyr, and enjoyment with fortunate people, and the companionship of Apostles, and victory over my enemies; for it is You who listens to the Prayer
Imam Shamil: A pioneer of the Caucasus' struggle for freedom
As a member of a noble Avar family, Imam Shamil burned the fire of independence in Dagestan against its Russian oppressors by uniting local tribes. When he was captured after 25 years of heroic resistance, Russian Tsar Alexander II personally met with him and even admired him for his resistance
The area between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea is known as Dagestan and Caucasia. For centuries, adamant tribes lived an autonomous life in this mountainous location where dozens of ethnicities, languages and their dialects exist today.
Islam arrived in this region from two sides. Georgians, Laz and Circassians living in the Caucasus became Muslim through the Ottomans. Dagestan was already introduced to Islam through Arab merchants in the early centuries of the rise of Islam. Being pressured between the Russian and Persian Empires over years, Caucasus and Dagestan got closer to the Ottomans. Unable to stand against imperial Russia's goals, Muslims in the Caucasus migrated to Anatolia in masses from 1864. The relations between Dagestan and Muslims in the Ottoman Empire date back longer. For some time in the 16th century Dagestan was an Ottoman province. From 1747 onward, Dagestan was invaded by the Russians. The Russian army under Gen. Aleksey Petrovich Yermolov suppressed the people's resistance in 1819. In 1830, tribes in Dagestan declared jihad against Russia. Imam Shamil was the legendary figure who led resistance against the Russians.
Born in 1797, Imam Shamil was the son of a religious and noble Avar family. Avars are a native Caucasian ethnic group that lives in the north Caucasus between the Black Sea and Caspian Sea. Earlier Avars were a Turkic community that established a khaganate extending from Central Asia to central Europe in the sixth century. They laid siege to Istanbul and crossed the Bosporus on horseback. The Avars came apart after Frankish attacks in 805 and mingled among local people in Eastern Europe and the Balkans. Some of them, who settled in Dagestan, learned local language of Lezgi people and adopted Islam in the 13th Century.
Belonging to an ethnicity that marked such history was something like a harbinger of Imam Shamil's bright life. His name was changed from Ali to Shamil because he frequently got sick, and according to a folk tradition, changing someone's name brings health. After Shamil got a traditional education in his village, he was enlightened by Jamaluddin al-Ghumuqi, a sheikh from the Naqshbandi sufi order. He married Ghumuqi's daughter and later went to Damascus to meet Ghumuqi's famous teacher Khalid al-Baghdadi. Shamil gained an advanced level of knowledge in religious sciences. When he returned home, he took part in the resistance against the Russian Empire facilitated by his childhood friend Ghazi Muhammad. Russian forces killed his friend in 1832. When Hamza Bek, who led counterattacks after Ghazi Muhammad's death, was also killed in 1834, Dagestan mujahidin chose Shamil, who was 39 years old then, as their imam.
Shamil re-organized the mujahidin. With a height over 2 meters, an athletic appearance, strength, knowledge, articulation and an unbreakable faith, he gained the trust of people around him. He formed a fully-established military unit against the Russians. These mujahidin became a nightmare for Russian armies. Russians responded with crowded military forces and heavy weapons to Shamil's defiance with basic arms from 1834-1859. The glorious resistance in the Caucasus was heard all around the world.
He established regents in the areas under his control. Five regents formed a province. An emir was assigned to each province responsible for religious and life affairs. Regents collected taxes and soldiers as well as acting as judges. In each village, a "qadi" (Islamic judge) was in charge responsible for maintaining security, writing correspondences to regents and declaring orders to the public. Each regent was also responsible of looking after 300 cavalry men. In villages, a soldier was taken from each 10 homes and his family would be held not to pay taxes. The number of mujahidin reached 5,000 people in 1843. All men aged 15 to 50 had to be adept at horsemanship and using arms because they protected their homes by themselves from attacks. Imam Shamil provided arms partially from both the Ottomans and Persians. However, they had an old, big arms manufacturing plant built in a rocky area in Kubachi.
Imam Shamil had almost a 1,000-member special guard unit. They used to wear green turbans on a papakha made of galyak – fetal lamb pelt. Soldiers appeared in yellow Caucasian attire while officers wore traditional clothes in black. The group's sign was a square-shaped ash gray rag placed on the front of their hats.
Single soldiers were not allowed to marry while married soldiers were forbidden to meet their families during military service. They took a share from captured treasure. Imam Shamil's military forces became famous among the public as whichever village they went to, locals competed to treat them.
The Dargi War was the most famous victory of Imam Shamil's against Russian Imperial forces. A Russian army of 150,000 soldiers surrounded Dagestan and blocked the roads. Following a significant loss, Mikhail Semyonovich Vorontsov, the leader of an advance guard with 18,000 soldiers heading to Imam Shamil's headquarters had to drawback from Dargi on July 25, 1845. Three generals, 195 officers and 3,433 soldiers were killed by Imam Shamil's forces. Vorontsov attempted to burn forests, which he saw as a big advantage for Shamil, yet failed. In 1851, Hadji Murat, a regent of Imam Shamil, joined the Russian forces. Hadji Murat, who escaped with regret and then died tragically, was the protagonists of Leo Tolstoy's famous namesake novel.
Tsar Nicholas I of Russia twice wanted to personally meet Imam Shamil, whom he admired. Imam Shamil sent a refusal to the tsar's letter full of endless promises and bright offers. He was persistent in war and even further declared penalties on those who offered to negotiate with the Russians. Meanwhile, Shamil's mother, who heard about Muslim villagers being tortured by Russians from two Chechens, asked her son to make an agreement with the Russians. It was a very famous account that Imam Shamil ordered 100 strokes of the cane for his mother as punishment, yet it was applied to him as he did not find it in his heart to carry out the punishment on her. After the Crimean War in 1854 during which Imam Shamil's military forces supported the Ottoman army, Russians blocked the roads through where Shamil supplied arms. Russian forces bought some tribes unable to resist. Chechnya fell following a two-year struggle. Small groups left Imam Shamil afterward and Dagestan was entirely surrounded. Still fighting against the Russians, Imam Shamil reached Gunib, a fortified village in Dagestan, with his family. He protected the fortress with his 400 soldiers, yet their number reduced to 100 following artillery fire from 14 well-armed Russian battalions. On Sept. 6, 1859, Imam Shamil surrendered with his two sons.An agreement made between the Russians and Imam Shamil forced him to go to Istanbul with his companions. On the other side, Russians would not collect soldiers in Dagestan. However, Prince Baryatinski, the battle's victorious commander, did not keep his promise. Imam Shamil was brought to St. Petersburg. Tsar Alexander II of Russia tried to please him with an unprecedented ceremony. During the feast in honor of Imam Shamil, the tsar said: "I am proudly honored to host you at our table." Upon the tsar's words, Shamil said: "I would feel honored, if I welcomed you at my table." Following a 10-year obligatory residence in Kaluga, Imam Shamil was allowed to go Hejaz to observe his pilgrimage. He was hosted by Ottoman Sultan Abdülaziz in Istanbul and Khedive Ismail Pasha in Egypt. Shamil could not return to Istanbul after his pilgrimage and died in Medina in 1871. He was buried in the Maqbaratul Baqī' (Baqi Cemetery in Medina).
Imam Shamil's son Ghazi Muhammad Pasha entered the Ottoman Empire's service. He managed the cavalry brigade on the Caucasus front during the 1877 Russo-Turkish War. His other son, Shafi, who was captured by the Russians, became the tsar's aide-de-camp and a Russian general. Said Shamil, his grandson from his youngest son Kamil Pasha, fought for the independence of Dagestan from 1918-1921, yet failed. He died in Istanbul in 1981. The memories of Imam Shamil continued to live in the heart of Muslim communities, especially those that lived under the captivity of Russia.
Bakr Al-Muzani, may Allaah have mercy upon him, said: "If you are content, then anything from this world would suffice you, even if it is a handful of dates, a sip of water and a shade made of animal hair or wool; the more this worldly life opens up for you, the more you would be inclined towards it.
Sultan Murad's dua before the great battle of Kosovo.
He became a shahid in this battle.
May Allah have mercy on his soul.
Amin!
Sultan Murad I’s prayer he recited before his death:
“For the beauty of Mohammed’s face, for the bloodshed of Kerbela, for weeping eye in the descending night, for the misery of the one in love, for entreaties affecting the sad hearts and the spirits! Give us your mercy and always protect us, my God!
God! Be gracious for the Muslim community; keep out the enemy’s hand from us! Do not count our sins but see our sorrow coming from the heart. Save your followers from the enemy’s arrows. Save our body from graves, protect Islam from the dangers. Help us in our Jihad and accept our prayers. Do not ruin my name with your wrath and save my honour in front of my people. Do not allow the enemy to step in the Islam lands and do not make it as a place in which people living in shame.
God! I know You favour the believers, show these favours in this war. Let me die for my religion that I could reach a beautiful place in the other side.
Imam Nawawi rahimullah on Total Dedication to Seeking Knowledge]
"One should be avid to learn, and constantly learning at all times--by day and by night, when resident and when travelling.
"One shouldn't waste any of one's time in other than knowledge, except to the extent of necessity--such as eating and sleep, to the extent unavoidable, and slight rest to lift tiredness, and other such necessities.
"Anyone who could attain the rank of being an inheritor of the Prophets (peace and blessings be upon them all) and then squanders it isn't of the intelligent."
[Nawawi, al-Majmu'] via Shaykh Abu Bakr Ba-Dhib.
May Allah grant us assistance, success and facilitation.
عبارة للامام النووي .. تقطع القلب
وينبغي أن يكون حريصا على التعلم، مواظبا عليه في جميع أوقاته ليلا ونهارا ، حضرا أو سفرا ،
ولا يذهب من أوقاته شيئا في غير العلم ، إلا بقدر الضرورة ، لأكل ونوم قدرا لابد منه،
ونحوهما كاستراحة يسيرة لإزالة الملل، وشبه ذلك من الضروريات،
وليس بعاقل من أمكنه درجة ورثة الأنبياء ثم فوتها.
المجموع للنووي
People talk of the Taaj Mahal with regards to its beauty,but the construction of Masjidun Nabawi Shareef in the Uthmaani era has no comparison.
When the Turks decided to expand the Haram Shareef they called all
the master craftsmen ,& housed all of them in a town outside Istanbul.
Each master craftsman was instructed to teach his art to one of his offspring,this one child was then taught the sciences of Deen & made a Hafiz of The Holy Quran by the Government. For 25 yrs he was taught uloome Deen .
After 25 years a whole army of young scholars & master craftsmen were ready ,500 in total .
Mines for new stones were procured & decorated glass was also obtained .
All the materials were sent to the Blessed lands & stored at a distance from Madinah tul Munawwarah so that the Most Beloved Sallallahu Alaihi wasallam & the dwellers of the nucleus (Hazrath Abu Bakr & Umar رضي الله عنه ) not be disturbed .
In the instance of a slab of Stone not fitting plush, the stone would be taken back to the workshop & corrected to avoid any kind of noise .
All craftsmen were instructed to be in wudu at all times & the recitation of the Holy Quran & sending blessed salawaat upon the Most Beloved Sallallaahu Alayhi wasallam should be done at all times .
The Blessed golden gates were covered in cloth so that any speck of dust did not land on them. This huge project lasted 15 years ,Subhaan Allah, this extension Is an example in history to be done with complete love & devotion to the Most Beloved صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ
This cannot be undone and I am sure it will be greatly appreciated.
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